EA has announced the indefinite suspension of discretionary content granting in FIFA 21, as it investigates a scandal involving the game's Ultimate Team mode and the illegitimate granting of items to accounts.
In its update on the matter, which has been dubbed as #EAGate, the company also wrote, “It appears that one or more EA accounts, which were either compromised or being used inappropriately by someone within EA, directly entitled items to these individual accounts."
EA said that it would take action against employees that are found to be involved as well as accounts that have been receiving items through this method. “Any items granted through this illicit activity will be removed from the FUT ecosystem and EA will permanently ban any player known to have acquired content through these means.”
The issue was brought to attention last week, with EA announcing that investigations were being carried out on March 11. Unverified player-taken screencaps of messages revealed that valuable cards were being sold directly to certain buyers, with some of the “packages” costing €1000 (~RM4,920.70). EA pointed out that these items were meant to be earned “through gameplay - i.e. by opening a pack, purchasing through the transfer market, completing a reward challenge (e.g. an SBC completion) or other engagement (e.g. viewing a Twitch Broadcast)”.
"We’ve also been clear since the creation of Ultimate Team that items cannot be exchanged outside our game, and that’s key to how we keep our game safe from manipulation and bad actors," said EA. "This is a breach of that principle, as well -- and we won’t let it stand."
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